One of my many hobbies is scrapbooking, and right after the 9/11 tragedy, I started to put together a memorial scrapbook for my family to share with each other and with later generations what we had experienced on that horrible day.

I began the scrapbook after reading in a scrapbook magazine what other people were doing to prepare memorial books. I emailed many family members and asked them these six questions:

1. Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you first heard of the terrorist attack on the WTC?

2. What were your first thoughts?

3. Who was with you, or who was the first person you shared the news with?

4. What thought, poem, verse, or song brought you comfort in the immediate moments after the attacks?

5. How has your perspective as an American changed since September 11?

6. What has been the most obvious effect of this event on your life?

Not all of the family responded, (the cretins) but those who did were very happy to do so, and their stories are so interesting. My father's was the funniest, as I "interviewed" him because he won't have anything to do with computers. My mother was recovering from a stroke at the time, and my father said he'd been on his way to take a kidney specimen to her doctor when he heard the news.

Now, we say Mom's urine sample will always be associated with the WTC disaster within the family.

In addition, I saved some of the more poignant, heroic, and heartbreaking media related segments that I printed off the internet and clipped from our local newspapers.

Have any other members of TVNL done anything similar to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy? Please share what they are, if you will.

Thanks.

Catherine

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

I haven't done anything as elaborate as you, Catherine, but that IS about the time my nephew sent me a computer so I could have access to something more reliable than commercial 'news'.

I didn't and don't know anything about computers, that is why my ability to participate is limited. I DO browse and hopefully learn. I keep searching for places where one can trust what is being said.

It is so disappointing to think one has found a reliable source only to have that image dashed, but life does go on.

This is the best discussion site I have seen yet. I love that it is here. Thank you Jesse.

The scrapbook idea is a great one--something to hand down to family members whe were too young to remember, or not born yet, on 9/11/01. We all have the images seared into our memories, but younger people will need more than someone talking about this to be able to understand.

My thoughts when this happened were--how is Bush involved and how could anyone possibly allow a tragedy to happen to their own country. As time goes on, that feeling only becomes stronger.....

Maybe we could do a TVNL scrapbook similar to the one I did for my family, only it would be similar to an online condolence book. Actually, now would be a good time to look back and reflect on that day and see how it compares to where we are today as a country.

What do you think? Jesse?

We could start it right here in the lounge and invite everyone to come in and record their 9/11 memories by answering the questions I've listed.

If we wanted to, we could then print off those whose memories we wanted to keep to add to our own memory books.

Catherine

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

A TVNL scrapbook would be great. People here are of varied backgrounds, ages and points of view. Being able to include memories from whomever wishes to participate would be a welcome addition to one's own scrapbook I am sure.

This would be especially good for people who have families or are going to have families.

Imagine if your own family kept scrapbooks from the time of WW I and WW II right up through this ill begotten 'war on terror'.

Nothing terrofies me more than a cabal leading the country deciding just who in the world are 'terrorists' and who are not. This is especially true when the worst terrorists, and the ones that can do the most damage are those people themselves.

1. Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you first heard of the terrorist attack on the WTC?
about three miles uptown from the attack!2. What were your first thoughts?

That it was a civil aviation accident. We went to roof of my building just as the second plane hit, then we realized it was something bigger.

3. Who was with you, or who was the first person you shared the news with?

I was in a construction meeting with my lead engineer and architects.

4. What thought, poem, verse, or song brought you comfort in the immediate moments after the attacks?

None, never had time to even ponder it, I was to busy evacuating the building. then setting up security procedures, checking our emergerncy generators, etc.

5. How has your perspective as an American changed since September 11?

It has pretty much turned me into an isolationist.

6. What has been the most obvious effect of this event on your life?

It has incredibly made my life more difficult. Being the building manager, I have to conduct fire and evacuation drills much more thoroughly then we did before. We have taken classes about terrorism and biological warfare to help aid in any reaction necessary if we are attacked. Our security posture has changed and we are now looking into raising our outside air intakes up a couple of stories to prevent problems with anthrax or other ABC agents. We have an older building and as a result the lobby has been redesigned for a differnt traffic flow. If your ID card does not have a scanbar on it, you are not allowed in the building unless we come down and personally escort the person in.

I recorded these answers in the 9/11 scrapbook, which was entitled New Day of Infamy:

1. Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you first heard of the terrorist attack on the WTC?

"I was at school, teaching a thematic unit on apples. The students and I were deep into a discussion about William Tell. The television wasn't on, and the discussion took us right up to 11:30, when the students and I went to lunch. Just as we arrived in the cafeteria, one of my colleagues came up to me and whispered into my ear, "Have you heard? We are under attack. Two planes have hit the WTC and one has hit the Pentagon!"

2. What were your first thoughts?

"Disbelief, then horror, and then anger. I had felt ever since the 2000 election that the new president had shown very little leadership qualities and seemed inadequately prepared to lead the greatest nation in the world. I thought it was his obvious weaknesses that had made our enemies, whoever they were, bold enough to strike in this way. Then, almost immediately, I was ashamed of those thoughts and I began to think of my eldest son, then stationed at Fort Hood, TX with the Army's First Cavalry...what would this mean for him and all the others in the military? I thought of the families of the people in the planes, in the WTC, and in the Pentagon, and I was so very sorry. I also felt fear...what was in our future...nuclear war?"

3. Who was with you, or who was the first person you shared the news with?

"My students and my colleagues were with me. Another teacher, who is also a close friend, came in with her class and I told her the awful news. She and I agreed to tell our students when we returned to our rooms.

After llunch, I gathered my class into a section of the room called the Book Nook and told them briefly what I knew. They were very quiet and subdued. A few of them wanted to know if we would be attacked right there at school. I reassured them that they were safe in our school, which made them all relax. We turned on the radio to NPR. The children and I listened to the latest reports in horror and fascination.

4. What thought, poem, verse, or song brought you comfort in the immediate moments after the attacks?

"One comforting thought for me was that I knew our fighting forces were the best in the world, and that this cowardly attack would not go unanswered, even if it meant fighting in the towns and streets of the United States itself. "

5. How has your perspective as an American changed since September 11?

"I don't take our freedom for granted anymore. I realize that, while we have oceans on each side of us with friends to our north and to our south, we are still vulnerable to those who hate us."

6. What has been the most obvious effect of this event on your life?

"I think I'm more of a spontaneous hugger than I was before 9/11. I tell my family I love them much more often.

I am increasingly aware of the sacrifice of our military men and women, even more so than I was when my son joined the Army. I also feel that we are no longer unique among the super powers of the world because we now have been bloodied on our own soil in modern times. I hope that small fact will help us become even more allied with our friends and supporters in other parts of the world.

It also reinforced my belief that any mass of people, bonded by a superstition that promises some glorious life after death, is dangerous. Whether the myth is propogated by a form of terrorism or shrouded in good works with selective compassion is irrelevant. Both create a form of mind control that is perilous to all life forms."

Catherine

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman